The snow Leopards are one of the endangered big cats that live in mountain terrains. The global population of Snow Leopards is estimated to be between about 4000 and 7000, but there have been a sharp decline in populations over the past decades.Hunting for the animals’ skins has contributed to the species’s endangered status and legal measures had to be taken for its protection.

Although, pelts appear to be the main Snow Leopard product in demand there is also evidence of demand for live animals for zoos and circuses along with other body parts found in trade include bones, nails, meat and the sexual organs of male cats. Traditional Asian medicine uses the Snow Leopard bones. They say that they have medicinal properties that are similar to Tiger bones.

There has been evidence of the trade of Snow Leopard bones in China and Nepal. However, it is not clear if bones are the main reason why they are killing the Snow Leopards. There are also other factors that are affecting the lives of these Snow Leopards. These other factors are the killing and loss of wild prey, habitat fragmentation, and accidental trapping or poisoning.

Whales in the eastern Pacific are facing starvation, according to a Canadian researcher. They were once hunted almost to extinction but were removed from the endangered species list only to face extinction all over again.Researchers say the warmer El Nino weather of 1998 and 1999 reduced oxygen levels, resulting in fewer tiny crustaceans for whales to eat.

A Griffith University study has shown that the deadly chytrid fungus is becoming devastating to Australia’s frog populations.

Kerry Kringer, a Griffith researcher, said that chytridiomycosis – the disease caused by the fungus – was once absent from Queensland but is now prevalent in moist, temperate areas around Australia, and around the world. Some scientists think that the spread of this disease could be due to international trade in amphibians as well as the possibility of environmental factors.

Kerry said, “It attacks the keratin in the frogs’ skin, and may also produce a toxin that poisons the frog. The disease can have an 80 per cent mortality rate, and is already believed to be responsible for 6-8 species extinctions in eastern Australia.”

Frogs are an important bio-indicator, they can exhibit early warning signs for environmental problems. The public is being asked not to handle these frogs or relocate then from one place to another. It is scary to think that it could possibly be the environment that is contributing to the spread of this disease among frogs. It makes you think, what other conditions the environment may be adding to your health.

Amphibians lovers are trying to save the amphibians from extinction with the “Amphibian Ark” project. The chytrid fungus is threatening amphibians, mostly frogs. “In the past 10 years, 170 of 6,000 amphibian species have become extinct. Now, 2,000 species are threatened, the scientists said.” Because the species can not be preserved in the wild, the ark project group is asking zoos and aquariums to build facilities to house the 500 endangered species. “Bringing (frogs) into an amphibian ark is really the last option,” Kevin Buley, director of herpetology at Chester Zoo in England and chairman of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria’s amphibian ark told the Times.

In the article by Robert Dunn, he talks about how most extinctions that have been estimated to have occurred in the past, or that may occur in the future are of insects. Although not all insect extinctions have been documented only 70 insects have been documented to date. Dunn also considers ways in which insect extinctions may differ from those of other species. There are two types of extinction for insects but are rare for other species. Some evidence suggests that many insect extinctions occurred because of loss of narrow habitat and the loss of hosts. He also suggests that we need to spend more time and money documenting such extinctions if we are serious about insect conservation.

According to Daniel Simberloff a professor of environmental studies and director of the Institute for Biological Invasions at the University of Tennessee, and other biologial scientist we are approaching the sixth mass extinction. Extinction rates currently are comparable to those of past great extinctions. Simberloff gives an example of the extinction of 128 species of birds that have become extinct in the last 500 years and that 500 bird species will become extinct within this century. It is mainly because of habitat destruction that endangerment and extinction is occuring. Another cause of the extinction is also due to introduced species.

In picking a blog to comment on Defeating Global Poverty seemed very interesting to me. The author Dave Richards is a high-tech business leader and volunteers for non-profit organizations. In reading Dave’s posts I think that he seems to be a very pleasant, intellectual writer. In his most recent post, Leveraging Children’s Curiosity he talks about an experiment done in New Delhi, India. Richards presents the information in a unbiased manner, providing additional articles and sites with further information about the experiment. I think by provide more sources to look to was very helpful in order for other readers like myself to access a variety of information and other opinions about this experiment so we can come to our own conclusions. Other post that this author has on his site also lead me to believe that this author is sincere in providing “ideas & data to help us all become better contributors to defeating the scourge of extreme global poverty.” He doesn’t seem to come off as a boastful person trying to get his point across. The main issues on his site is global poverty. He comes across as a conservative with his support for microfinance and ways that help others that are in poverty. I think that this blogger offers good, creditable information for those who are interested in Global Poverty.